ARDONA Defense of the House of Cardona C and the Charter.” and Its Parador Miquel Riu I Alaudi
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Salt of Barcelona “This year the ancient Udura, born of hardship and struggle, celebrates one thousand years of its roots, and the base of its future. It was the second Count Borrell who, by order of his grandfather, made official a document of greater wisdom and generosity than any other in the world. It granted residents salt, land and other assets; freedom and protection with the ARDONA defense of the house of Cardona C and the charter.” And Its Parador Miquel Riu I Alaudi L and of salt. Town of dukes. Defender of Catalan freedom. Amazing space. The San Ramón Nonato and San Vicente churches bring faith, the castle/fortress, security for the body, and the collegiate church, tranquility to the soul. The mines represent a prosperous past and present. The future is yet to come. Along the banks of the Cardener River, after more than a thousand years of history, the town continues to welcome travelers with open hospitality. Since the early part of the last century, this same welcome has greeted those from Extremadura and Andalusia who have come for the mine, for the salt, for a life, for the spice of life. The valley harks back to the Neolithic. Its history stretches back to 3,500 years before Christ, a history of megaliths, menhirs, and sepulchers. It has been home to Iberians and Romans. From the first came the root of the name Cardona: Quer, which means rock or steep mountain. From the second came the start of exploiting the mines. in the words of the -2nd century ad Roman writer, Aulus Gellus, “a great mountain of pure salt that grows as it is extracted.” The next to come were the Bergucios. And the castle, the town’s point of origin and its constant defender. Then came Charlemagne’s troops, and reconquest and rebuilding, with Ludovico Pío as the driving force. And then in 801 the deserted lands of the Segarra region became the frontier between Muslim and Christian Spain. The most audacious settlers lived around the fortress, while the poor quarter inhabited an area below. A church served as protector, the parish church of San Miguel, which reported to San Vicente del Castillo. These were hard years of war after war. When the country at last enjoyed a little peace and was able to go about its work, conflict again reared its head. Al-Manzor, the Arab leader, ravaged towns and lands. Shortly after the Muslim incursion, the town charter was created in response to the need for protection and survival. Its contents announced that the town and its surrounding area had already been settled in the time of Wilfredo “the Hairy,” who had granted it a sort of constitution. Every week the men of the town had to work one day on the construction of the castle and its towers. In accordance with the Gothic laws of the time, it sanctioned certain crimes, prescribed religious penitence for delinquents, and granted the law-abiding inhabitants of the town the privilege of making use of the salt from the quarry every Thursday. CARDONA AND ITS PARADOR 1 Aragon, Beatriz de Luna, and Isabel de With the coming of the 13th and Urgel-. It was a century later when the 14th centuries, the land was Catholic King Fernando granted it the developed. The Cardonas, a status of the Duchy of Cardona as a prominent family and member of the reward for the count’s loyalty to the Catalan and Aragonese nobility, crown and the military successes of the inhabited the castle and lands. This Count of Prades. From that time, the prestigious surname was the most illustrious line came to control lands in important after that of the royal Andalusia, Castile, and Italy. At the end family. The family came to own more of the 17th century, there was no male than 30 towns, 25 castles, and four heir. Catalina de Aragon y Cardona, sea ports. This period saw significant daughter of the last duke, married the population growth and urban Duke of Medinaceli. His lordship lasted development, attracting merchants until the time of the seizures of church and craftsmen. lands. Currently the dukedom is no more than a title. First were the viscounts of Cardona, originally from Osona, Ramón Folch, Cardona has survived its lords and its the brother of Bishop Eribaldo. A conflicts: the Reapers’ War, the War of countship was granted by King Pedro Spanish Succession, the Napoleonic Wars, the Ceremonious in 1357 to Hugo II, and the Carlist Wars. who had three wives, Blanca de The Castle. Parador Duques de Cardona “... Graceful castle of immortal clergy occupied the castle in turns. It was subsequently a prison and then memory, you have filled so many pages a barracks. Constantly besieged, the Spanish Civil War was the final of history with the counts of Cardona chapter in this history of suffering. as your patrons; your battlements were transformed into a Parador, but just as The 62,000-square meter building is reached from the town by two always, you attract the affectionate routes. Its treasure is the Minyona Tower, 10 meters across. In times past it gaze of hundreds of Cardona’s was much taller than its present 15 meters. According to legend, the inhabitants!” Antoni Casals I Humet origin of its name lies in the story of the love affair between young Adalés, daughter of Viscount and Viscountess Ramón Folch and Enguncia, and the Moorish jailer of Maldá Castle, in the 11th century. Even though the Moor he castle was rebuilt in 886 by Wilfredo “the Hairy.” According to some had renounced his faith in Mohammed, because of his religion the lovely researchers, eighty years earlier, the town already had a small garrison. young woman’s parents and brothers were against the relationship, and But what is important is that the castle has always been there, alert, she was condemned to live inside the tower, her only point of human safeguarding the security of its land and peoples. From its heights it contact being a mute servant. This penalty took its toll on Adelés’s health, watches over the more than 40 kilometers it controls. The Romanesque and she died in her prison. The cross which her Moorish lover built with and Gothic building surrounds the ducal patio. The large windows date stones from the river as a sign of his Christian faith did her no good. The from the 12th and 14th centuries. Public rooms include the so-called tower which contains the memory of this unfortunate women has also Dorada (Golden) Room. In 1534, the Entresols Room was the site of the served as a warehouse. From its roof you can look out over the foot of the ruling in the legal action between the priest of San Miguel Church and castle, over the town of Cardona, the mountain of salt, and further out in the abbot of San Vicente. the distance, the early foothills of the Pyrenees. It has been fortress to nobles and soldiers, constantly being It is a castle of legends and ghosts. If you are a person who likes a thrill, modernized to give it more defenses and improve existing ones. The be sure to ask for room 712, on the top floor of the castle, near Minyona early walls, battlements, and machicolations were altered to increase its tower. Since the opening of the Parador, on at least two occasions that we strength as a fortress. The embrasures were enlarged and lookout posts know of, guests have received a visit from a male ghost, clothed in leggings were built at the top. The first large construction project was the and period dress. Three visitors and more than one Parador employee have bastion of San Pedro, with two lookout posts, in the year 1693. felt the presence of another world. Windows and doors open and close, seemingly by themselves. There are suspicious noises. Strangely enough, The walls of the castle, which has been a Parador since 1976, suffered the alleged ghost has made contact only with women. during the hard times of the War of Spanish Succession. Soldiers and 2 CARDONA AND ITS PARADOR The following story serves as a sort of confirmation. When the Parador The entire Cardona family lies in the church’s tombs. At the end of the was closed to the public for a period, the security guard was never able to transept lies the mausoleum of Juan Ramón Folch I, conqueror of Naples get his faithful dog to accompany him along the corridor that passes outside and Marseille. At the other end we find the alabaster pantheon of Duke this room. The dog stopped short, barking at the door of room 712. Day Fernando and his wife Francisca Marquínez de Lara. after day, for a month and a half, the dog did the same thing. Lovely views, a double bed with canopy, and who knows what else, await the adventurous The castle buildings also include the Chapel of San Ramón Nonato, a visitor inside: imagination knows no bounds... monk related to the Cardona family. According to church tradition, on his deathbed he was visited by Jesus Christ himself, who gave him Another event, this time in communion. Miracles have been the cultural sphere, gave the attributed to the saint. Born by area a boost in the mid-20th cesarean, with his mother century. The filming of the already dead, he did good deeds Orson Wells production during his entire life. He died in “Falstaff,” in what were then a room of the ducal castle, where the castle’s ruins, galvanized a chapel was built, although this the town and its was destroyed long ago in one of administrators.